OOOOOOOKLAHOMA!

I had a niece who died in April of 1981 at the age of 9 1/2 years. That fall my mother, my sisters, and I decided that we should do something around the time of Lisa's birthday to help her mother, my sister Teresa (TC) make it through what was bound to be a difficult time. Lisa would have been 10 in November and that would be followed closely by the holidays.

Since we all like to shop and enjoy each other's company, we decided to go to Salina and go shopping. We have been taking an annual shopping trip ever since. We go to different cities and one time we were unable to work it in until January, but we always go and we always have a ball.

We just returned from our 24th trip, held this year in Oklahoma City. Everyone gathered in Wichita on Friday night and we left early Saturday morning. We reached our motel in Oklahoma City around 10:00 and were able to check in. We then piled in one vehicle and headed for Penn Square Mall.

The trips the last few years, although always great fun, have had a bit of a poignant flavor also. My mother is 81 years old and is nearly blind from macular degeneration. She mentioned this year that she thought this would probably be her last trip, but it seems to me she said that last year and maybe the year before also. She does an amazing job of keeping up with the rest of us but is frustrated because of her eyesight. It is also imperative that someone stays with her because she needs their eyes and she gets lost easily. But she is so much fun. It is hard to imagine the trips without her.

We all love to eat, so the dining out portion of the trip is pretty major. We are always torn between sticking with the tried and true, or being adventuresome. We usually end up doing both, and this year was no exception. We ate lunch at a place called Fire Mountain. It was a buffet and provided a good variety. We all overate. We ate dinner at Cracker Barrell. The table next to us had 4 adult and 6 children (I couldn't see them but Barbie estimated the oldest was 5). The kids ran wild and the adults made no attempt to curb them. I have a VERY low tolerance for that sort of thing so thought I might be over-reacting, but even the waitress complained about them when they were gone. I always worry when children are running around in a restaurant because 1) they can get hurt, and 2) if they don't learn appropriate behavior when they are young, when will they? Also, with them being so rowdy we couldn't really carry on any kind of a conversation at our table. When we were first seated I considered asking if we could be put somewhere else and totally regret that I did not.

It is hard to describe our shopping trip and to make other people understand why it is almost more special to us than the holidays themselves. Part of it is the fact that we girls all get along very well and we all have weird senses of humor. We invariably, at some point, laugh so hard we almost hurt ourselves (or our underwear). And although Mother now requires more of our attention and we have to be so considerate of her limitations, she is such a delight to have along. When she can no longer accompany us it just simply will not be the same.

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Well, our nieces and nephews started their own trip a few years ago. Their attendance is kind of sparse at times because they are so scattered and so busy, but they continue the tradition and enjoy doing it.

Next year will be our 25th trip. I don't think we'll go to Oklahoma again - it is too far to do every year. We do need to think of something special and hopefully something which can include everyone. But we had fun in Oklahoma.